Title Image: Painting showing the sinking of the Titanic, 1912. Courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Kennesaw State University Department of Museums, Archives and Rare Books (MARB) presents exhibitions, public programs, archival collections, and educational services supporting KSU’s mission and encouraging dialogue about the past and its significance today. This online module is part of a series of modules designed for university students to explore pivotal moments in history through a diverse selection of source materials.
Essential Questions
Using the primary source material and content in this online unit, respond to the three essential questions found below. In your responses, include evidence from the content in this online unit. Please refer to the directions provided by your instructor on submitting your responses to these essential questions as well as to the questions posed throughout this unit.
1. Why have some disasters gained more attention than others?
2. How did the disasters highlighted in this module affect the survivors, their families, and society in general?
3. How has the media spread misinformation concerning disasters in the 20th century?
Introduction
This module examines significant disasters of the 20th century and their lasting impact on the globe. These disasters fall into three categories including natural, man-made and biological. Some of these overlap each other and can fall within more than one category. For example, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill which was both a man-made and biological disaster.
Tragic events from these three categories will be analyzed by describing their general history and how we, as a society, have learned from their tragic outcomes. As you learn more about the disasters highlighted in this module, consider the legacy each disaster left behind and their impact on our society and natural environment.
Natural Disasters
Natural disasters are events of natural earth phenomenon, which humanity has no control over. We, as humans, can be as prepared as possible to survive natural disasters, but ultimately it is up to mother nature to determine the severity of the situation. Disasters of a natural proportion include hurricanes, tornados, fires (not caused by humans), tsunamis, heat waves, earthquakes, and other related phenomenon.
San Francisco Earthquake - 1906
San Francisco suffered a major earthquake at 5:12am on April 18, 1906 as the result of shifting of the nearby San Andreas strike-slip fault-line. Even though the invention of the Richter scale didn’t exist during that time it is believed that it reached 7.9 on the scale. It was felt as far north as Oregon, as far south as Los Angeles, and as far east as central Nevada. Several aftershocks occurred within the next hour. The earthquake toppled buildings throughout the city and buried people under debris. The fires resulting from ruptured gas lines were among the most devastating for the city and the surrounding areas. Due to a rupture of water lines, the city struggled to put out the fires and they blazed for several days. The U.S. Army was called in to dynamite many structures to stop the fire but because of inexperience with using dynamite, this tactic was ineffective. As a result of the fires eighty percent of the city was destroyed. Many people were left homeless and tent cities were built in different locations throughout the city including Golden Gate Park. The human toll was believed to be over 3,000.
Image: Photograph taken by Arnold Genthe showing Sacramento Street, San Francisco, California, April 18, 1906. Courtesy Library of Congress
Videos to Watch
Resource Links
Click the links below to learn more about the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.
The Museum of the City of San Francisco website
NPS.gov website: 1906 Earthquake: Chinese Displacement
Questions to Consider
As you examine the above materials, consider the following questions.
1. What was learned from the San Francisco earthquake and what changes were made to make society safer? Were any of these changes apparent by the time of the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989?
2. Explore the xenophobia that occurred throughout the course of the earthquake. What transpired and what was the outcome in the implementation of dealing with different races of the city?
Hurricane Camille - 1969
Hurricane Camille made landfall on August 17, 1969 near Waveland, Mississippi. It was one of several category-five hurricanes to ever make landfall in the Atlantic Basin of the continental United States. It started as a tropical storm on August 14 just south of Cuba. Originally the maximum sustained winds were not known because the hurricane destroyed wind-recording instruments at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Later, analysis found that the winds reached a total of almost 200 mph and parts of the Gulf of Mexico coastal areas experienced tides of more than 24 feet. More than 150,000 people were evacuated and over 250 people were killed. Once on land Camille moved towards Virginia and was downgraded to a tropical depression, dumping 12 to 20 inches of rain in West Virginia and Virginia. The storm then moved to the upper Atlantic Ocean on August 20. It was upgraded to a tropical storm but dissipated because of a confrontation with another storm and colder air.
Image: Chevrolet leaning on a fence in Biloxi, Mississippi in the aftermath Hurricane Camille, August 17, 1969. Courtesy NOAA
Videos to Watch
Resource Links
Click the links below to learn more about Hurricane Camille.
National Weather Service article
Questions to Consider
As you examine the above materials, consider the following questions.
1. What lessons have we learned from Hurricane Camille and how has that changed tracking and predicting storms?
2. How important is it for the citizenry to follow through with government services ordering an evacuation? Explore some scenarios which could occur if evacuation is not followed.
3. Recent research has found that more hurricanes are occurring with more frequency and strength. Explore reasons why this is and what can be done to slow this process.
Heat Wave - 1980
The hardest hit areas of the United States during the summer heat wave of 1980 were the South, the Midwest and the East. It lasted from the beginning of June to mid-September. The National Centers for Environmental Information showed that the direct death toll from the 1980 heat wave was 1,260, with another estimate of 8,000 deaths due to indirect causes from heat stress. As well as the human toll, many animals died as a result of the heat wave, including millions of birds. Agricultural losses were extreme with an estimated toll of $60 billion, adjusted for current inflation. Memphis, Tennessee experienced fifteen days of over 100 degree weather.
Image: Business partners Steve Harris and John Sharkey created this T-shirt during the heat wave of 1980, when Dallas saw 42 straight days — and 69 days total — of triple-digit temperatures. The high reached a record 113 degrees twice in June. Courtesy The Dallas Morning News
Videos to Watch
Resource Links
Homeland Security Digital Library
Impacts of Temperature Extremes
Questions to Consider
As you examine the above materials, consider the following questions.
1. Describe the differences between direct and indirect deaths due to heat waves? What are some examples of these?
2. Analyze how a heat wave can affect an economy? What examples exist of the economic toll of the Heat Wave of 1980?
3. Analyze how earth temperatures have increased over time since the 1980 Heat Wave. What factors are involved that are causing this phenomenon?
Man-Made Disasters
Man-made disasters involve human causes of disaster, either intentionally or accidentally. In some cases, the disaster may seem natural in proportion, such as a wildfire, but in other cases the fire could have been started by human means, such as a lit cigarette dropped during a drought. These type of disasters also involve man-made structures that come under duress.
R. M. S. Titanic sinking - 1912
The sinking of the R.M.S. (Royal Mail Steamer) Titanic on April 15, 1912 was an event that is immortalized in many types of media from films to books. The Titanic, a White Star Line ship, struck an iceberg at 11:40pm on April 14, 1912 and sunk two hours and forty minutes later at 2:20am on April 15. Sources differ on the exact death toll but a little over 1,500 went down with the ship and over 700 survived, who were rescued by the Carpathia, a Cunard Line ship, which was a rival steamship company of White Star Line.
Much has been written on the potential causes of this disaster, for example, how the lookouts in the crow’s nest didn’t have binoculars to watch out for icebergs to not enough room in the twenty lifeboats for the amount of people on the ship. As a result of the unique circumstances of this incident, many false stories and claims were made in the immediate days after the sinking. Many changes were made to shipping laws as the result of both an American and British Inquiry into the sinking.
Videos to Watch
Resource Links
Click the links below to learn more about the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
Questions to Consider
As you examine the above materials, consider the following questions.
1. What changes were made to shipping laws and procedures as a result of the sinking of the Titanic?
2. Analyze some of the ways that the sinking of the Titanic is prevalent in today’s society. One can look at different aspects such as media, society, or travel. Pick one to focus on and write about it.
Winecoff Hotel fire - 1946
The Winecoff Hotel Fire occurred on December 7, 1946. The building, at the corner of Ellis Street and Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, Georgia was considered absolutely fireproof because of its construction in 1913 of concrete and steel. It is believed that the fire was the result of arson although no one was ever convicted of the crime. The fire broke out quickly in the middle of the night with some guests resorting to making ropes out of bed linen and attempting to climb down the fifteen-story building to awaiting fire ladders. Out of the roughly 300 people who were staying in the hotel, 119 lost their lives in what is considered by some as the worst hotel fire in the history of the United States.
Image: Iconic photograph of the Winecoff Hotel fire was taken by Georgia Tech student, Arnold Hardy, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for photography in 1947. Courtesy Associated Press
Many of the victims were young teenagers attending a YMCA sponsored youth assembly. Because the building didn’t have a built-in alarm system, sprinklers, fire-escapes, or fire-blocked doors, this was a watershed event in fire safety. As a result of this disaster, investigators re-examined the needed safety standards for tall buildings. President Harry Truman convened a conference on fire safety in May of 1947 which required buildings to follow more stringent fire safety standards.
Image: Photograph taken in 2007 of the old Winecoff building (left of photo), which is now the Ellis Hotel. The Atlanta Westin Hotel is seen in the background. Public Domain.
Videos to Watch
Resource Links
Click the links below to learn more about the Winecoff Hotel fire.
Website authored by Chet Wallace
Website authored by Allen Goodwin
Questions to Consider
As you examine the above materials, consider the following questions.
1. Before the Winecoff fire how did individual cities deal with fire safety? Compare Atlanta with Chicago or New York City and explore the differences in fire safety measures before the Winecoff fire.
2. What were some of the actions that the city of Atlanta and local businesses did to help survivors after the fire was put out?
3. What changes were made in fire safety after the Winecoff fire? Are some of these safety measures still in place?
Air Florida Flight 90 air crash - 1982
The crash of Air Florida Flight 90 occurred on January 13, 1982 in a snow storm. The Boeing 737, on route to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, cleared the runway on takeoff from Washington National Airport (now Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport) but several problems kept the plane from staying in the air. Soon after takeoff the plane went down into the icy Potomac River, clipping cars on the 14th Street Bridge and killing four motorists.
Six passengers came to the icy surface to be picked up by helicopters. One of these six passengers ultimately died in the water. Arland Williams who initially survived kept passing life buoys to the other survivors struggling in the water. By the time it was his turn to be rescued Williams had drowned. Several people in cars near the sight helped to rescue survivors, as well as nearby military personnel from the Pentagon. There were 74 passengers and 5 crew members on the flight, with four passengers and one flight attendant surviving the disaster. The cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error. In 1984, Air Florida eventually went out of business because of this crash.
Videos to Watch
Resource Links
Click the links below to learn more about the Air Florida Flight 90 aircrash.
Questions to Consider
As you examine the above materials, consider the following questions.
1. Many factors were involved in the cause of the crash, including pilot error. Analyze what pilot errors occurred as well as mechanical errors. What was done to correct these errors for future flights?
2. Many air crashes have occurred throughout the history of aviation. What do you think makes this air crash unique from other ones?
3. Analyze the history of black boxes in commercial flights. What types of black boxes exist and how do they operate and record information?
Biological Disasters
Biological disasters can occur either by nature or humans, depending on the circumstances, but these disasters are of an environmental nature. In the case of a pandemic the virus is developed in nature, usually within animals first, and then spread to humans. Sometimes humans can directly cause the biological disaster, such as chemical warfare.
Spanish Influenza Pandemic - 1918-1919
The Spanish Influenza pandemic was one of the deadliest in human history. It infected a total of 500 million people, which was one third of the population of the world at the time, and killed 50 million. A quarter of the total population of 103 million in the United States was infected by the virus and 675,000 died. Caskets could not be supplied fast enough for the amount of dead, so other means of burial took place including burying the dead in the crates that the caskets were shipped in.
Many sources claim that the pandemic began at Camp Funston at Fort Riley, Kansas. The reason for the name of the pandemic is because all reliable news sources about the spread of influenza came from Spain. It was a neutral country during World War I and their news was not censored. People were urged to social distance, wear masks, and practice effective personal hygiene. Some refused to wear masks and formed societies such as the Anti-Mask League of San Francisco. There were three waves of the flu in the United States. The first one started in March of 1918 and for the next six months flu activity occurred in varying degrees. The second wave in the fall of 1918 was worse. In the month of October alone the pandemic killed an estimated 195,000 people in the United States. The last wave occurred in the winter and spring of 1919 in which many more died.
Image: Soldiers being treated at Camp Funston, Fort Riley, Kansas during the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918. Courtesy National Museum of Health and Medicine
Videos to Watch
Resource Links
Center for Disease Control and Prevention article
Questions to Consider
As you examine the above materials, consider the following questions.
1. What did epidemiologists learn from the Spanish Flu pandemic and what did they accomplish moving forward?
2. What are some of the correlations between the Spanish Flu pandemic and the Covid-19 pandemic? Have we learned anything from the Spanish Flu pandemic concerning the Covid-19 pandemic and what are some of the lessons?
Agent Orange - Vietnam Conflict Era
Agent Orange is an herbicide and defoliant that was used extensively during the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1975. It had devastating affects environmentally as well as to humanity. The administering of Agent Orange had two purposes: to destroy forest areas in which the Viet Cong hid and destroy crops that they used for consumption.
About 13 million gallons of Agent Orange were administered in Vietnam throughout the course of the conflict. Much of the herbicide used during the war was prepared and stored at the U.S. airbase in Danang. Even today, the site of the Danang airbase has high levels of dioxin, an element of Agent Orange, in the soil. Residents nearby have periodically developed deformities and various illnesses as a result. In the Vietnamese people, Agent Orange caused high numbers of miscarriages, cancers, skin diseases, birth defects, and horrible congenital malformations. American servicemen, once they came back to the United States, developed long term exposure effects including cancer and other debilitating diseases.
Image: Helicopter spraying Agent Orange over an area during the Vietnam Conflict in 1962. Courtesy U.S. Air Force
Videos to Watch
Resource Links
Click the links below to learn more about Agent Orange.
Questions to Consider
As you examine the above materials, consider the following questions.
1. Explore other ways that the effects of Agent Orange can impact humans outside of the ways it was administered during the Vietnam Conflict? What are some of the illnesses that occur?
2. How does the United States government compensate the Vietnamese people and American servicemen who were exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam Conflict?
3. Vietnam was not the only location in which Agent Orange was administered. Research other areas of the world in which Agent Orange was used. What areas and time periods did you find and what were the reasons for its use?
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill - 1989
The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred on March 24, 1989 when an Exxon Corporation oil tanker, Exxon Valdez, ran aground on the Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, located in the Gulf of Alaska. It is one of the worst maritime oil spills in history. Containing the spill was delayed and as a result nearly 11,000,000 gallons of crude oil was released into the water from the ruptured hull of the tanker. The spill affected shorelines as far south as the southern end of Shelikof Strait between Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. The United States government and Exxon provided funds for the massive cleanup operation, completed by thousands of workers. The environmental death toll was massive to wildlife in which many salmon, herring, bald eagles, sea otters, seals, and killer whales died. To this day, effects of the spill are still seen in the ecological system in the surrounding area.
Image: Clean-up of Exxob Exxon Valdez oil spill, Big Smith Island, March 1989. Courtesy Jim Brickett via Flickr
Videos to Watch
Resource Links
Click the links below to learn more about the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Bright Hub Engineering article
Questions to Consider
As you examine the above materials, consider the following questions.
1. Explain the mistakes made by Exxon employees and the Coast Guard that led to the spill and its delay in containment?
2. Even though the Exxon Valdez disaster affected wildlife and sea life, explore any effects that the oil spill had on humanity.
3. What changes resulted from the oil spill to prevent a similar disaster from happening again? Were these lessons learned by the time of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010?
Engage
Nine disasters of the 20th century have been analyzed within this module. It is important to examine these incidents in more detail and discover how each affected their specific time period. Think about how these events, as a whole, have changed society to the present day. Answer and discuss ONE of the three questions below using the content found in this module.
1. Examine reasons why some of these nine disasters have gained more attention than others. Why is this? In your examination think outside of the box and analyze what was occurring within the confines of world events during the time of the disaster to help answer this question.
2. Examine elements of human trauma felt by the aftermath of all of these disasters. How did these disasters affect the survivors, their families and society in general? Many articles exist online for all of the disasters mentioned. Pick one disaster and focus on the aftermath from a human perspective.
3. Examine how the news media has spread misinformation concerning these disasters, either deliberately or accidentally, in the immediate days after. Focus on one of the nine incidents and describe what occurred.
Further Reading and Sources
San Francisco Earthquake - 1906
Book: The San Francisco Earthquake – Gordon Thomas/Max Morgan-Witts
Video Link: 100 Years After the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
Hurricane Camille - 1969
Heat Wave - 1980
The Social Impacts of Heat Waves thesis
R. M. S. Titanic sinking - 1912
Book: A Night To Remember - Walter Lord
Book: The Night Lives On - Walter Lord
Winecoff Hotel fire - 1946
Book: Stories of the Winecoff Fire: A Dedication to the Memory of the 119 – Chet Wallace
Air Florida Flight 90 air crash - 1982
Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac: 1984 television film based on the Flight 90 crash
Spanish Influenza Pandemic - 1918-1919
Book: The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History – John M. Barry
Agent Orange - Vietnam Conflict Era
Book: Waiting for an Army to Die: The Tragedy of Agent Orange – Fred A. Wilcox
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill - 1989
Coast Guard involvement document
Thank you for participating in our online unit, "Disasters of the 20th Century" If you would like to learn more about the many resources the Department of Museums, Archives, and Rare Books at Kennesaw State University offers, please follow the link below:
This digital lesson was curated and designed by Chester Wallace from Kennesaw State University in collaboration with staff from the Museum of History and Holocaust Education at Kennesaw State University.